What a Witch
by Official Space Teen
Summary: The Scoobies find themselves trapped during the time of the Salem Witch Trials.


**Chapter 1**

There was a scream. It sounded like Dawn… or Xander. Slightly dazed, Buffy lifted herself off the cold ground. She took in the surrounding. It was dark and things were hard to make out but Buffy was pretty sure she was in some sort of forest. The evergreen trees loomed above her and a clear night sky showed millions of tiny stars.

"What the fu-" Dawn cut her off.

"Buffy, where the HELL are we!?" She exclaimed in great distraught. "I woke up, lying on the ground and I'm pretty sure I didn't fall asleep there."

"What going on?" Willow murmured from her position next to Buffy's feet, still half asleep.

"We're not in Kansas anymore."

Willow shot up. "Wait… what? Are we the only ones here? What happened?"

Buffy looked at the forest floor. She could see all her friends lying on the ground. And Spike.

"What I'm I wearing?" Dawn asked in disgust. She bore on her a pale dress that came to her ankles. Underneath it was a white blouse and on her head sat a bonnet the shade of her dress. Willow giggled.

"Hey! You're wearing on too." Dawn spat. It was true; Willow was wearing a similar dress, bonnet and ugly, ugly black shoes. Buffy looked down to see that she too wore the same thing, as did a sleeping Anya and Tara. Giles, Xander and Spike, however, wore shirts, trousers and even uglier shoes.

"Let's wake everyone else up." Buffy decided and the three of them got to work, yelling in everyone's faces.

"Alright, alright, I'm up." Spike muttered after Dawn had poured dirt on face. He stood up. "Where the bloody Hell are we?"

"Judging by the attire we're all in," explained Willow, "I'd say we're in the seventeenth century, or even eighteenth."

Tara laughed. "You're talking crazy."

"Okay," Giles said calmly, "before we work out when and where, maybe we should think about who and how. We obviously all fell asleep in Sunnydale in our homes, and now where here."

"It could just be a practical joke." Anya suggested.

Xander shook his head. "Oh yeah, someone exchanged all our clothes and them dumped is in a forest without us waking up."

"Well, we're obviously not in Sunnydale." Buffy sighed. "Look at all those stars. We aren't able to see that many in California because of all the light pollution."

"Maybe, just maybe," Spike said in a rather sarcastic tone, "a spell in responsible for this just like every other flipping things that happens to us."

"Spike could be right." Tara agreed. "But a powerful spell at that and who would be able to perform such magic?"

"Uh," Dawn interjected, "any monster or demon this side of Hells Mouth."

"Let's just… work this out later." Suggested Buffy. "There's obviously some type of town or whatnot over there." She pointed to the clearing through the trees. "Maybe there will be, like, a hotel or something. Somewhere we can stay in 'till we sort things out. "She rummaged through her petticoat pocket to find a sack of gold coins. "Perfect." Everyone nodded in agreement and proceed to the clearing. Through the darkness, Buffy could make out the details of the buildings that surrounded the village. They all looked quite old style; made out of wood with thatched rooves and chimney pipes.

"This place is weird." Willow noted. There were not civilians out at the time and only a few flickering candle lights could be seen, glowing through windows. Buffy stopped at a sign that hung above one of the buildings; 'Inn' in read. The glow of a candle could be seen from outside.

"This is our place." She smiled. "After you lot." The group walked in to see a small man sitting at a wooden desk.

"Um," Buffy began, "this is an Inn, right?"

The man looked up from the piece of paper. "That is correct."

"And could we, maybe, stay here."

He nodded. "Your name?" The innkeeper inquired. "And relation to these people?" He guested to the rest of the Scoobies.

"Um… my name is Buffy," The innkeeper raised an eyebrow to this. 'Buffy' wasn't exactly an eighteenth century (or wherever they were) type name. "I mean… Beth, Elisabeth Sum… Smith. My name is Elisabeth Smith."

"And the others?"

She pointed to Dawn. "This is my sister. Her name is… Deborah. And this is my betroved, William."

"What?" Spike questioned as the innkeeper scribbled the names onto parchment with a quill.

"These are our friends;" Buffy looked at Anya, Xander and Giles, "Alexander Jones, his wife Anne and his… father, George."

"'Evening." Xander nodded.

"And…" She looked at Willow and Tara. "This is… Prudence Goodwin"

"Prudence?!" Willow muttered.

"And… her sister… whose name is," She looked at desperately at Tara. "…Tara."

"Why didn't I get a cool alias?" She whispered in protest.

"So," the innkeeper began, "you all wish to stay in one of the rooms here?"

"Multiple rooms, actually." Willow chimed in. "Anya… um, _Anne_,snores."

"Do not!"

"Three rooms would be nice." Buffy agreed.

The innkeeper slowly stoked his chin. "That will cost you all a large price."

"We have money." She drew the sack of gold pieces, offering him three. "Three rooms for a week for three gold pieces."

The innkeeper smiled. "I'm afraid my price is a little higher." Buffy sighed and handed him two more pieces.

He smiled, satisfied. "You may have the three rooms, upstairs, on the left."

The group began to head up the stairway when Giles pause for a moment. "Excuse me, Sir, but… what year is it exactly?"

"1692." He replied

"And what town may we be in?"

"Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony." Everyone became deathly still.

Giles forced a smile as the Scoobies continued up the stairs slowly. "Thank you."

"What does this mean?" Dawn asked Willow once they'd landed on the second floor.

Willow looked sick with dread. "It means we've gone back in time somehow and we're in a different place."

"I gathered that much." She snorted. "But why is that so awful."

"Because, if what the man said is true, about the time and the place, we've come just in time for the Salem Witch Trials."

Xander sighed. "Wow, this whole thing feels like the plot of a really bad fanfiction."

"Indeed it does." Giles nodded. "Indeed it does."

**Part 1 of 3**


End file.
